Roll-Up: Doodle Jump Meets Pinball

Once in awhile, a new game appears on the App Store which manages to combine two or more concepts into a unique and interesting game. Roll-Up, developed by Krokusgames, is a new and fun game for the iPhone. Blending the endlessness of Doodle Jump with the reflex-based swiftness of pinball, Roll-Up is definitely an entertaining game to play.

Concept and Gameplay:

As I mentioned before, the closest game I can easily compare Roll-Up with is Doodle Jump. The only difference is that instead of your character advancing upwards on his own, you have to assist him via tree branches. There are also boosts you can use along your journey, which will add to your score or help your character reach new heights.

Regarding graphics and design, I believe Roll-Up is lacking in the latter. Though the graphics are fairly decent, the only sound is when you press the screen to activate the branch flippers. The absence of background music seems to make the game fairly boring very quickly.

Like Doodle Jump, you’ll encounter quite a few monsters who are in your way. Your character doesn’t possess a self defense mechanism, though, so it’s best to avoid the angry critters as best as you can.

The higher you go, the more points you earn. I found it difficult to earn more than 1,000 points because my character would usually fall through the large gap in the middle of the screen (between the branch flippers). Sometimes it felt more like a game of luck than skill.

Features:

Reviewed by Sarah Hanlon

The pinball gameplay style is definitely fun and really tests your reflexes. However, many times I found my character accidentally falling through the flipper and tumbling toward oblivion. One way to curb this might be to make the flipper a little thicker.

Also, Roll-Up features integration with Game Center. This gives you access to a global leaderboard, but the game doesn’t allow you to earn achievements.

One of the things I definitely am not a fan of is the full screen ads that sometimes pop up when you hang around the game’s main screen or try to start a new game. You can choose to remove ads for a price of $0.99.

A few features which would really make Roll-Up a great game would be the ability to choose different characters to play, along with exciting background music and integrated achievements. Nothing is more fun than having a musical and visual fanfare announcing your ascent to a certain height or number of points.

Value:

Roll-Up doesn’t cost anything to download, but it’s definitely a game that takes a bit of getting used to. You can tell it’s still in its infancy stage, but I know this is a game that can be great with a few more tweaks.

Roll-Up is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.